The present invention is directed to an article sortation system and method of sorting articles, and in particular for sortation of articles, at least some of which are flexible bags such as polybags and jiffy bags. The present invention utilizes active discharge which means a driven conveyor rather than a passive conveyor or chute.
A jiffy bag is a term of art that represents a shipping envelope for one or more items, the envelope having a flexible outer layer and an inner padded layer. A polybag is also a term of art that represents a shipping envelope made up of a flexible polymeric material. Both jiffy bags and polybags are popular in order fulfillment, particularly in the e-commerce field, because they do not add significant weight or volume to the weight or volume of the item shipped, are durable, and usually self-closing. However, they are non-rigid in shape, thus making them difficult to handle in automated material-handling systems, in general. Both jiffy bags and polybags will be referred to as flexible bags.
Flexible bags are difficult to handle with automated material handling equipment which has been developed for handling rigid corrugated containers and totes. While certain types of automated article sorters, such as positive displacement shoe sorters and cross-belt sorters are good at handling flexible bags, the flexible bags are difficult to handle once discharged from the article support surface of the sorter.